It Never Ends
by Bifflechips
Summary: My alternative version of the story of Baldur's Gate II. Tons of changes and different things will happen. Official first chapter up! Huzzah!
1. Author's Note

Author's Note: This story of Baldur's Gate II is more of an alternate reality of the game. One of the things I never like about the second one was the fact that it was assumed that Imoen, Khalid, Jaheira, Minsc, and Dynaheir were all present at the final battle in the first one. it lacks the freedom of choice, especially since I tend to take the characters that aren't nearly as... normal... as those chosen characters or are widely considered annoying, 2-dimensional, and useless, just to beat the game in spite of their presence. But they're definitely more amusing!

So this story was born, actually just from an idea I had with Tiax, which will be presented later on. But also, I got a lot of good feedback on Endgame, and people wondered how such a crazy, and dare I say, annoying party could possibly come together without killing each other.

So I present this tale, which basically "assumes" that the the 5 BGII NPCs also in the first one(Edwin and Viconia included) and their pairings do not exist, and that I beat the first game with other characters instead. Many BG1 NPCs will show up, though I left out a few others, either because they wouldn't fit or I just plain don't like them. For that same reason, many events and characters will be changed as well, though the same basic story is the same.

I am taking this story very seriously, and I'd appreciate reviews, especially on my writing style, and whether, in your opinion, reflects something that is easy to read, etc. etc. Of yeah, and whether it follows the characters as far as the 2-d development went in BG1. Oh yeah, and if you also think that I'm giving Inteus enough personality too. I have trouble with that, and that was one criticism in Endgame that I got, was that Bjorn had been kind of boring and lackluster.

Without further adieu,

Chapter 1

That is, until I upload it. I'm just after halfway done with it, at over 3000 words, and I did all that in one day. I'm surprised at myself!


	2. Prison Break

Author's Note: I don't own anything except for stuff you recognize. Err... wait.. strike that, add the word "don't" somewhere... again. I think that fixes it. Someone else owns it, and it makes me weep at night. Err... But strong, masculine weeping staunched with tears of manly brawn!

Enjoy. And don't forget to tear it to pieces if you feel it necessary. Er... as long as it's constructive. Moving on...

**CHAPTER I. **

**Prison Break**

"_Your life is a story_

_I've already written_

_The news is that I'm in control._

_And I have the power_

_To make you surrender_

_Not only your heart but your soul"_

_- Surrender, Performed by k. d. lang_

Inteus awoke from the pitch black room of unconsciousness, not of his own free will, but from the squeaking of his iron prison doors and the forceful, quick tapping on his shoulders.

"Inteus, wake up, hurry!" urged a woman's voice.

His eyes darted open and looked in every direction in panic, catching sight of a woman with shoulder length brown hair that came down in a braid on both sides of her head. Faded and smudged face paint adorned her face, though it was hard to tell in the darkness what color it had been. She was now pushing his shoulders, even slightly hurting them. He shrugged her calloused hand away, and her tense face grew softer in relief.

"W-who are you?" he stammered.

Why was he afraid? What happened? And where was he?

"That male. He messed with your head, I can tell," she said, her face tightening up again. "We don't have time for introductions, but knowing your stubbornness, Ilmaterian, I am called Shar-Teel, and we traveled together for some time. Now get up, we need to get out of here before our all too gracious host returns." She pulled him by the arm, and a sharp yelp escaped his mouth as her fingers pulled on his raw, scarred flesh.

Scars? Shar-Teel? Ilmaterian? Oh right... he remembered. He was a combat trained priest of Ilmater, the Crying God, the god of suffering and endurance.

Wait... ... Lightning... The face glazed across his memory for a moment. The emotionless, scarred face, with eyes that glowed like a sapphire. No happiness. No sadness. No anger. No malice. Nothing. Every enemy that Inteus had faced, from the common bandit up to his half-brother Sarevok, had some kind of emotion or feeling dominating their actions. But not this man. He said that he was going to experiment, and observe, and calculate. And then he did it. While the mind of a scientist sounds like reason enough for his actions, the way he went about it, was not with the interest of a scientist. He fired spell after spell into his body, observed his cries of pain and rage, and went into deep thought for minutes at a time, leaving Inteus with charring flesh. Followed with healing spells. Repeat.

And it wasn't just spells. The man would occasionally have his golems, large humanoid constructs made of clay, strap him to a nearby table for physical torture. A slim, elven woman, wearing long dark robes and a silver mask with only eyeslits cut into it, would administer knives and whips to torture him for hours. He remembered her saying that it was called chakra torture, which involved cutting with small blades at certain spots on the body, such as the heart or genitals, allowing for the maximum amount of pain to be inflicted. As she cut him, she would mumble "Praise be to the Mistress of Pain," meaning Loviatar, and then follow with an additional slice and a pleasurable moan. Inteus hated her even more than the spellcasting man.

The man had rarely spoken during his tortures, up until recently.

"_Ah, the child of Bhaal has awoken. It is time for more... experiments," he said. And without a warning, the man conjured lightning bolts into his cage, sending him into convulsive seizures that struck his head into the bars of the cage._

"_Stop it, you'll kill him!" cried a young female voice from nearby. One of his adventuring companions. He tried to remember her name. But she seemed... distant. Far away. Farther than she really was._

"_Interesting... you have much untapped power," he said. _

"I'm moving, Shar-Teel. Even after all the healing spells, I ache all over," he said, nearly stumbling over on his feet.

"I would expect as much. I could hear your screams all way from my cell. I swear, if I get a hold of that man..." she let her sentence trail off, her hands clenching into fists.

Inteus took a few steps to get the blood rushing back to his legs when a thought occurred to him. "How did you get free?"

"My own cage was a little rusty, so it wasn't hard for me to bust out of it. What gets me is the ambush we fell into near Baldur's Gate. We saved their city; we were accomplished adventurers; we should have seen past that." She bared her teeth in anger at the last sentence.

Inteus searched his memory for the past. Being raised at the monastery fortress of Candlekeep, most of his life was relatively boring, that is, until he was forced onto the road by his foster father, Gorion. He had been killed on their first night by Sarevok, for than unknown reasons, while he had fled the scene. He wasn't really sure what to even do after that, until he ran into Xzar and Montaron, Zhentish agents who were looking into the iron shortage. Their dark organization had been placed under increased scrutiny due to the poisoning of the iron, and Inteus made it his own mission to solve the iron crisis as well. He didn't have much fondness for the bloodthirsty halfling or the mood swinging necromancer, though their cause to solve the shortage seemed benevolent enough at the time. Along the way, he would meet other adventurers, many who wouldn't remain with the group for long, though the Amazonian Shar-Teel and the starry-eyed Garrick would remain until the end, both of whom had become friends, of a sort, and Inteus' confidants. And at the bottom of the Nashkel Mines, which turned out to only be the start of Xzar and Montaron's investigation into the iron crisis, they met up with Xan, probably the most depressed and moody elf that Inteus had never met. He had been quite dedicated to his own magic training, and would be a great asset at the end.

They would later be joined by Eldoth Kron and Skie Silvershield, the daughter of one of the suddenly murdered dukes of Baldur's Gate. They were lovers apparently, though the circumstances weren't all that great, since Eldoth's scheme involved "kidnapping" her and collecting a ransom on her from the family's estate. Eldoth paid little attention to his considerably younger and naive lover, and she was blind to his uncaring and greedy nature. This almost resulted in a bloodbath when Shar-Teel decided to set Skie straight, with Garrick on the side of the man-hating warrior. Eldoth stepped in, an expert at manipulating emotions, and especially, Skie's, and expressed an earnest love for her, though it appeared he loved the money she came from, rather. Regardless, she defended him, and there was nothing that Shar-Teel or Garrick could do to sway her otherwise. Inteus noticed this and worried for Skie, but wasn't sure how to approach this situation, especially since he needed all the help against Sarevok and his allies.

A flirtatious elf named Coran would join the group as well, and he was incredibly adept at firing arrows from afar. Though he hadn't meant to be a thief, the elf always tried to remain on the side of good in his quest for glory and all the women that came with it. He had been a valuable friend on this adventure. The last member of their group was Tiax, a gnome that believed that the human god, Cyric, had destined him to rule the world one day. Tiax wasn't all that great of a healer or a rogue, though the gnome added another number to his party, and his antics provided a little amusement as well. He seemed harmless enough.

In the end, the group of incompatible adventurers were up against Shar-Teel's father, Angelo Dosan, a half-ogre bandit leader, an archmage, and Sarevok, a man that turned out to be Inteus' half brother. Sarevok had been trying to orchestrate a war with Amn, to use the deity's blood that they both shared as fuel to ascend to godhood. And it was the incompatible adventurers that prevailed, though just barely, with Tiax, the Zhentish agents, and Eldoth perishing in that final battle. Fortunately, Inteus was able to read a few scrolls and raise them all from the dead, though this took a toll on his untrained body that left him unconscious for a few days.

They had been the heroes of Baldur's Gate, and Grand Duke Eltan offered Inteus and his group a place to rest within the Duchal palace. Xzar and Montaron left soon after, eager to report to their superiors on the success of their mission. Tiax had left to the south of Baldur's Gate, saying that it was time that he go and convert some other heathen to the ways of Cyric. He also mentioned that he had been impressed by Inteus, and he would continue to serve him once he ruled. Inteus wasn't sure if that was supposed to be a complement or not. Xan would also return to Evereska to report his own findings on the iron crisis(though how it even related to the elves of Evereska, Inteus never did find out). Xan returned a month later to Baldur's Gate, saying that he had quit his role as a Greycloak, only saying that, despite the likely doom of Inteus and his party, he couldn't help but be attracted to the adventure on the road. The remainder of the group stayed within the city, always keeping contact with each other, and Garrick had almost become like a brother, inviting Inteus to the nights he played music or told stories in taverns. Garrick even made him the "guest of honor" at the Elfsong, where he told the story of how Inteus and his allies saved the city of Baldur's Gate and ended the threat of war with Amn to the south. There was no music of course, since that's forbidden at the Elfsong, as only the songs from the ghost that haunted the tavern were allowed.

It was only a few months later that they had received a letter from Bentley Mirrorshade, the owner of the Friendly Arm Inn, a massive fortress that served as a place to rest in between Baldur's Gate and Beregost to the south. Bentley had been having problems with bandits in the region once again, and had asked for his services specifically. So it was that Inteus, Shar-Teel, Garrick, Coran, Xan, Eldoth, and Skie set out for this short trip south. While they rested on the road the first night out, they were ambushed by monstrous clay constructs, and the wizard himself made his presence known, freezing all of them in a paralysis spell. It had only taken seconds to end his surprise trap, and they were surprised at how quickly they succumbed to his power.

And here they were, in the midst of some metal dungeon, with the only sounds being drifting chains and the quiet stream of water echoing from the darkness.

"I thought I heard someone else nearby. Skie, it sounded like. Have you seen anybody else here?"

Shar-Teel nodded. "Skie and Garrick are both further down this walkway up here. I have the keys to their cells right here. I jumped the jailer in the next room and blunted his head in with a mallet. But no, I haven't seen the swine, or the two elf bloods." She didn't really like either of the elves. By her reasoning, Coran was a bit too flirtatious like Eldoth, though not a complete bastard, and Xan complained too much. Though she would still admit that they were "great at... whatever it was they did."

"What are we waiting around here for? Let's get out of here," he said, smiling a little that he could walk without stumbling.

He followed Shar-Teel up the walkway next to his cell, holding on to the railing, and saw two others at the end of the walkway, dangling over the water beneath them. Crystals glowed in the water beneath the catwalk, giving the dungeon the faint, eerie blue glow. Skie looked up first.

"Inteus, Shar-Teel, you're okay!" she screamed from across the room, her voice echoing along the cavern walls. Garrick looked up and smiled to see his friends okay.

Shar-Teel urged her quiet with a "Sssshhhhhhhh!". Skie closed her mouth quickly and looked around to see if she had done anything, though she was getting excited just to see them alive, almost jumping up and down in her cage.

When they got closer, Garrick spoke up quietly, "It's good to see you are doing relatively well, my friend, considering your recent tortures," he said.

"Yes, I'm surprised too. But I want to know what he wants," replied Inteus, tracing the knife scar through the grey tunic on his chest.

"I don't know. But once we get out and gather our bearings, we'll be able to investigate," said Garrick. Then his face lightened up. "Hopefully another adventure just like before with Sarevok, eh?"

Shar-Teel smiled at the bard. "Good. I'm eager to cut down that mage."

"Did you see what they did with our equipment?" asked Inteus.

The warrior shook her head. "No. But there is an armory nearby, though there are two patrol guards, and we're a bit... unequipped at the moment."

"Sorry to interrupt your meeting, but could we please get out of here?" urged Skie, rolling her eyes.

"Be patient, peanut," mumbled Shar-Teel, calling her by the nickname she gave her, as she tested a few keys in the locks before she found the right one.

"Don't call me peanut!" Skie stopped for a moment. "Has anyone seen Eldoth?"

Inteus and Shar-Teel both shook their heads. Skie frowned at this and looked down, but didn't say anything.

"Let's go," said Inteus, turning his back on his group and sneaking down the walkway. "Shar-Teel, where was this armory?"

"Walk up through the door I came out of on the right. That's where I and the jailer was. There should be a door on the other side. That's where it is," she whispered from behind him.

Inteus followed her directions, and sure enough, she was right. Inteus noted the cell that had been kicked open from the inside by the Amazonian warrior. The room was lit by a wall clinging torch next to the door, and on the other side of the room from the cell, there was a table and chair. Behind the table lay the body of the jailer, and he had taken some blunt trauma to the head, with the metal mallet sitting on the table.

Inteus turned to Skie behind him, pointed at her, pointed at both his own eyes, then pointed at the door. She nodded, pushing back some of her raven-colored hair, that had obviously not been upkept well during their imprisonment. _They would never hear the end of her complaints once they got out of here, _thought Inteus, smiling to himself. With the grace of a dancer, Skie stepped up next to the metal door and turned her head to look through barred window, her eyes darting back and forth.

She turned her head back to the group and whispered, "I don't see anybody." She turned her head back to see a shortsword stab in between the bars. Skie jumped back to the wall next to the door, letting out an exasperated squeak. The metal door swung open and almost hit Skie in the face, stopping only an inch from it as she closed her eyes tight. A large bearded man, clad in chainmail, lumbered in, ready to cut the escaped prisoners down if he had to. Inteus froze at the sudden loss of surprise, and was only not stabbed when Shar-Teel shoved him to the side. The guard, not expecting to miss, swung the sword to the side to slice at Inteus again, though Shar-Teel, strong woman that she was, had pushed him out of reach.

_Ilmater praise her._

Shar-Teel raised a booted heel to the side of the guard, and only barely made him lose his balance. The guard turned to swing back at Shar-Teel, and she easily ducked, bringing her fist up to connect with his chin. The guard stumbled onto his back, the sword sliding out of his hand. Inteus grabbed it and pointed it at his neck, and guard looked up at him. Inteus noticed something strange. No fear, no anger. No emotion at all. Just like their captor.

"Hold... Nobody move," said a guard in a monotone. He was standing a few feet into the room, carrying a crossbow, ready to shoot anybody who did anything wrong. He too also had a blank face. "Let him go and drop the weapon."

Inteus, still confused by the lack of facial expressions, tossed the sword to the side and stepped back. The guard on the ground grabbed for his sword and got up, just staring at the priest that had almost ended his life. Inteus looked down at the ground; it was too creepy to look at that unmoving face.

The man with the crossbow held it at eye level to Shar-Teel, who just stared back. "Better tell the master that we caught our prisoner--" He was cut off when Skie, armed with the wall torch, clubbed it into the side of his head, knocking him out cold. His hair was smoked and some ash had even got caught in it, like fireflies sitting in his hair.

The other guard lunged at Inteus, who wasn't paying attention. A single, long held singing note came from Garrick's mouth, aimed at the guard. The sword struck Inteus and, instead of impaling him, the sword bent around his torso, exactly parallel to the curve of his tattered robe. Inteus, confused for a moment, took that chance to hook punch the guard in the face, knocking him on his back. Shar-Teel ran over and kicked him across the face, and that was the end of that, drawing some blood around his mouth.

"Be aware of your surroundings, Inteus. Didn't I teach you anything?" sighed Shar-Teel, giving a slap across the back of the head, before walking into the armory.

Skie gave him a reassuring pat on his shoulder. "You did just fine."

It was true. Inteus didn't learn anything about being a warrior and living on the road until he had been taught the basics by her. She had been a difficult teacher, always berating his skill or criticizing his maledom, but still, it was important to know how to defend himself out in the world, and he would need more than just divine magic to do that. He had gotten quite used to slightly abusive slaps while on the road, and promised himself he would try harder next time.

The group grabbed what they could out of the lack luster armory, which wasn't much, considering the mage's considerable power. Not a single item was enchanted, which the group found puzzling, but each person found a particular sword that they preferred, and Shar-Teel and Inteus both located some old and slightly rusted, but usable chainmail armor. More fortunate for Skie, the residential rogue, she found a low quality lockpicking kit. The woman warrior even found an iron helm with two horns sticking up and out. Shar-Teel thrusted and swung the sword horizontally a few times before being the first to speak.

"Life is always made fun by crushing your enemies," she grinned.

- - - - - - - - - - -

The party crept through the dungeon as quietly as possible, with Skie showing them the best route. Both Shar-Teel and Inteus had to stay back in the shadows since their chainmail armor would make enough racket as it was. Skie was incredibly nervous. She had been the residential scout and rogue towards the end of their last big adventure, and what with them having been wanted men by both the good guys and the bad guys for the alleged deaths of several people quite important to the city of Baldur's Gate, it had become her job... no, her mission to help them.

Skie thought about this as she bent over and picked up the cobblestone that stuck out of the ground just a bit more than the others in the cave. It was a fairly amateur trap, one that would only be released when the unwary passerby stepped on the cobblestone. When she lifted it open and set it aside, it was just a hole in the ground. The incredibly dim light of the torches almost made her miss the string that ran across the hole and underneath the other cobbles, possibly to the trigger of a crossbow turret in the nearby stone walls. She smiled sheepishly to herself as she cut the string with the dagger she found.

She had hardly been this good when she first joined the group. It all started when she had been forbidden from leaving the Silvershield estate. Her father, one of the dukes of Baldur's Gate, had heard rumors that the singer that they hired was really a scoundrel, and he planned to have the flirtatious Eldoth arrested when he was to be seeing her next for another lesson. She escaped through the 2nd story window of her manor with a rope tied to the post of her queen-sized bed, and met up with Eldoth at the nearby Helm and Cloaks Inn, a gaudy and high-priced inn that was known to be favored by those with financial power. There she told him of her father's plans for him, and they both felt it best for him to leave the city for awhile... not after one last tryst, of course. He was the first man she'd ever shared herself with, and she intended for him to be the only one.

He was gone early the next morning, and she back in her room, with nobody the wiser. During Eldoth's absence, however, her father was found murdered in the alleys of the city. He had been a great warrior before becoming a duke, and all the investigations by Grand Duke Eltan and Scar of the Flaming Fist wouldn't divine the murderer of her father. So he was laid to rest in the garden behind the estate, his muderer never knowing justice.

She had never felt so alone, and she had only left her room to eat quietly at the dinner table. The estate was than handed over to her eldest brother, Blake, a rather portly man with a passion for drink, smoke, and courtesans. So when Eldoth appeared in her room, along with Inteus to "kidnap and ransom" her from her own estate, she was eager to join up and help out. Fortunately for them, all her days of sneaking out on her sojourns with her love had taught her a few rogue-like skills, and she put these skills to good use. She considered herself even more incredibly lucky when it turned out that Sarevok himself was the one that murdered her father to try and seize power from the dukes, and had felt purposeful when she fired arrow after arrow from her shortbow into his back during that final battle.

Shaking herself out of her thoughts and more to her surroundings, she looked behind her. Garrick was not too far behind her, being able to keep quiet in the shadows as she was, and provide support in battle if it was necessary to do so. She smiled at him and held her hand out to him. He grabbed it, his eyes looking past her to see what was ahead. Torches were not as frequent in the caves and metallic hallways of this dungeon, so it could be hard to see at times. She pointed in front of her where the trap had been. Garrick nodded and patted her shoulder, and took a few steps past her.

She bit her lip as she watched him do a little of his own scouting from behind. Things had been a little weird since... well since the starry-eyed bard had admitted his feelings for her. He tried to convince her that Eldoth wasn't after her heart, but her money, and Skie scoffed at this, turning the younger bard away that evening. They had spoken little in the recent weeks since than.

Garrick stopped ahead of her in the doorway. Skie stepped behind him, and peaked over his shoulders. The room was kind of frightening, considering their recent surroundings, and radiated an otherworldly beauty. An elegant bed sat at the far end of the room, with sheets that seemed to carry a pattern of leaves. An armoire made of some kind of dark wood lay against the wall, and a few tables and a couch were spread throughout the room. It looked perfect, hardly untouched by anybody. Garrick took a few steps onto the forest green carpeting; he was in just as much awe as Skie was.

"A furnished room?" she asked, and Garrick nodded. Garrick's hand brushed along the top of the couch.

Skie's vision glazed across the floor at Garrick's feet before she saw it. "Stop. Traps."

Garrick didn't question her command. Grabbing one of the metal tools from her newly acquired lockpick kit, she inserted the tool into a slim crack in the carpet and turned the instrument ever so slightly, until she heard a slight click.

"He keeps traps in his room, even his bedroom," she muttered.

"Even with his power, he needs additional protection?" asked Garrick. Skie ignored him, and checked the room, taking only a few steps before focusing her eyes on all the furnishings, though nothing else was quite out of place. She turned back to the bard. "It's okay."

With that, she took a huge sigh and fell back on the bed, smiling and closing her eyes delicately. "It's been so long since I've had a soft bed!"

"I'll go fetch Inteus and Shar-Teel. Be careful," he said, and before Skie realized that he had spoken, he was back out the way they had come.

She gave out a pleased sound, approving the bed, and almost forgetting she was still in the dungeon of a mad man. When she opened her eyes, she noticed a portrait that hung just above the bed. Two nude elves held each other in a romantic embrace, hands around each other's waist. The man had golden hair, while the woman had flame orange hair. They stared into each other's eyes, completely alone in the painting, surrounded by nothing but leaves. It was a beautiful painting, and she probably wouldn't mind keeping it around her estate, if she wasn't several weeks journey from her home up in Baldur's Gate.

"A bedroom? What is this?" asked Inteus, interrupting her gaze of the portrait. Skie sat up, and watched him.

Inteus took in the gaze of the room, a mixture of confusion and anger on his face. Skie could sense something dark from him, probably having something to do with the blood of Bhaal that he carried. She didn't know a whole lot about the prophecies of Alaundo, though she did read up on the Time of Troubles during her formal education.

The overlord of the Gods, Ao, forced all the deities into flesh bodies and to walk the earth, with the exception of Helm, who would guard the gates to the Heavens. The forces of magic were completely screwed up. Divine magic would not work unless the priest was within a close distance of their deity's physical avatar. Arcane magic, which was controlled by the God of Magic at the time, was entirely unpredictable. And now, civilizations had powerful, if mortal, deities within their realms. A few deities were killed and replaced during this Time of Troubles, such as Bane, Myrkul, and Bhaal, among others. Bhaal, however, foresaw his own demise during this tumultuous event, and took steps to have progeny, to serve as fuel for his rebirth. As far as any of them knew, only Inteus and Sarevok had been children of Bhaal.

During their last adventure, Inteus had been haunted by strange nightmares, though he only revealed a few of these dreams to her, Shar-Teel, and Garrick. And as the group got deeper into the machinations of Sarevok's plot to become the next Lord of Murder, he seemed to exhibit characteristics of his evil blood. Instead of being kind and patient, as she remembered him at first, he was becoming short-tempered, uncaring, and condescending. She was almost tempted to leave his party, but the man did bring her the adventure she had always read about in the novels in her father's library, and she even cared to try and help him a little. After all, it wasn't his fault if he was a little snappish at times, was it?

"Perhaps it's a side of our captor we haven't seen?" asked Garrick.

"No... something different," responded Inteus quietly. "He is a dark man, whoever he is, that much is sure. But he's too... dispassionate and cold for this. I'm not sure how to explain it..."

"This room must mean something to him," said Shar-Teel, taking a look at the portrait of the two elves. Skie stood up and gazed at the picture again. "He adores a woman. Perhaps, even this woman?"

Inteus shrugged off the suggestion. "I think this room doesn't resemble the rest of this dungeon, as it should."

And with that and in one swift motion, Inteus stabbed his sword into the mattress of the bed and pulled, cutting the bed open in a line from head to toe. And Skie could only look down at the carpet and pray to Waukeen for her friend.


End file.
